If you’ve been out
today, there’s a very good chance that you’ve been caught on camera. As of
2016, there are about 350 million CCTV cameras worldwide. We have become a
planet under surveillance.

In the Beginning

The CCTV camera has
a somewhat inauspicious origin story. The technology was first used by Seimens
AG for the Nazis in 1942.The cameras
were installed at Test Stand VII in Peenemunde, Germany, for observing the launch
of V-2 rockets.

This was a very basic system that could only be used
for live monitoring. They technology did not yet exist for such systems to
record footage.

Rumble in the Jungle

One of the earliest
applications of CCTV came via the world of boxing, where it was used as a form
of pay-per-view theatre TV.

Boxing telecasts
were broadcast live to a select number of venues where viewers paid for tickets
to watch the fight live.

The first fight to
be broadcast via CCTV was Joe Lewis vs. Joe Walcott in 1948.These
telecasts grew in popularity, peaking with the iconic fights of Muhammad Ali in
the 1960s and 1970s. Possibly his most famous tussle, the‘Rumble
in the Jungle’against George Foreman in Zaire (modern day Congo) drew50 million CCTV viewers worldwide in 1974.

Fighting Crime

Although the city
of Hamburg in Germany had used CCTV to monitor traffic coming to its annual
industrial trade fair in the late 1950s, the first use of such systems to
tackle crime, which is what we associate CCTV with today, began in the 1960s.

The UK became an
early pioneer, when the Metropolitan Police used two temporary cameras in
Trafalgar Square to monitor crowds who had come to see to the arrival of the
Thai royal family.

The USA then set
the pace, starting with the city of Olean, New York, which in 1968 became the
first local authority to install video cameras along its main business street
in an effort to fight crime. Olean’s example started a trend which would see
several towns and cities across the USA adopt this new technology.

VCR-
The Game Changer

A significant
development in the history of CCTV occurred when video cassette recordings
(VCRs) became widely available in the 1970s. This technology was quickly
adopted andincorporated into
surveillance systems.

It was now no
longer necessary for people to monitor the screens live. Instead, the systems
could be set up and left to run independently. Users could then review what had
been recorded at a later time. This made CCTV much more popular among
businesses.

CCTV and the UK

CCTV has proven to
be very popular amongst businesses, local authorities and police forces in the
UK. The country’s citizens are amongst the most surveilled in the world.
According to the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) there are between
4-5.9 million CCTV cameras in the
country. There are 500,000 cameras in London alone, with some of most watched
locations being:

Oxford
Circus: 309 cameras

Green
Park: 210 cameras

Bank/Monument:
182 cameras

It’s Not Big Brother!

Although the stereotypical image of the CCTV
camera is that of one owned by the government (Big Brother is Watching You!),
in reality the majority of cameras in the UK areprivately owned.

Why has
CCTV Become so Popular?

Technical
developments, such as the ability to record at night, digitisation and
networking have helped broaden the appeal of the technology. But equally
important has been the evidence that illustrates CCTV’s effectiveness in
fighting crime.

For example, a 2009
review by researchers from Northeastern University and the University of Cambridge, which
looked at over 40 different studies thathad researched the impactof CCTV
on crime levels, found that :

●CCTV caused a significant
reduction of crime by on average 16 per cent

●The largest effects of CCTV were
found in car parks, where cameras reduced crime by on average 51 per cent

●Incity and town centres CCTV schemes had 7 per cent reduction in crime and
in public transport settings the reduction was 23 per cent

CCTV for Business

A recent study by the University of Leicester found what
most businesses have realised for some time,that CCTV is a great deterrent for pre-planned crime. It seems that
criminals actively avoid stealing from premises that appear knowledgeable about
crime and prevention.

Considering that
the average burglary costs a business £1,376 per incident, it’s easy to
understand why CCTV has become so popular and why so many businesses are
willing to invest in it.

But There are
Controversies

The expansion of
CCTV, both in the UK and elsewhere, has not come without controversy. The idea
of being constantly monitored, of the state being able to follow your every
move has made some people wary and led others to suggest that we are heading
towards a ‘surveillance society.’

There have also
been concerns that the large amounts of cash spent on CCTV does not result in
good value for money. Critics point out that the UK’s crime rate is not
dissimilar to other, less surveillanced, countries and that the money invested
in CCTV might be better spent on more police officers, local authority
employees (park keepers, toilet attendants) or bus/train conductors.

The
Future?

With new technology arriving, such as 4K,
which can greatly enhance an image and lessen the number of cameras needed,
it’s unlikely that we will see CCTV disappear from our streets any time soon.
The UK fell in love with being watched and it's a romance that looks in no
danger of fizzling out.

Concerns
about fire safety are nothing new as the flames of history tells. Cities,
homes, revered iconic buildings have all fallen prey to accidental fires
throughout the ages.

We
were taught in school about the Great Fire in Pudding Lane but did you know
that as recently as the last decade of the 1800s there were 10 fires that each
destroyed many acres of London, causing untold financial ruin and placing many
thousands out of work?

Unfortunately,
many lessons that have resulted in Health and Safety rules being put in place,
were learnt the hard and all too often fatal way. On too many occasions it
wasn’t a single lesson either, it had to happen multiple times before
governments or governing bodies started to put rules in place as prevention.

Give Them a Fire Escape

Back in the 1930’s
rules started to appear to ensure escape routes from burning buildings. In 1961
the public health act brought all the building regulations together into one
set of rules and by 1965 these evolved into the building regulations which went
on to incorporate the Fire Precautions Act 1971 which included means of escape
in case of fire.

Public
Theatres followed a similar path. There was The Glen Cinema in Paisley where 70
children were suffocated and crushed (1929). As a direct result of the Paisley
fire, an amending regulation was issued to the Cinematograph Act 1909 regarding
safe escapes.

And
so it went with factories (Factories Acts of 1937, 1948 and 1959), shops and
offices, (1963 Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act – the clauses being
modelled closely on the 1961 Factories Act), hotels, licensed premises and
sports grounds.

This,
and the legacy of preventative legislation, has created a situation today where
not only does the UK now have a clearer regulatory picture, the country also
boasts a dramatically improved record on fire fatalities, as the graph below
illustrates.

But
just because a fire doesn’t result in a fatality doesn’t mean it can't have a
catastrophic impact on those involved. The number of non-fatal casualties from fires in
the UK for the year ending September 2017 stood at 3,297. Although also on a
downward trend, when added to the number of fatalities, it represents a
significant number of people affected.

And, as the
Grenfell Tower tragedy of June 2017 - the worst residential fire in the United
Kingdom since the Second World War - reminded us, horrifying events are not
consigned to the past, proving we still have a way to go. Despite all the improvement,
there were still 170,519 fires in the UK last year,
a figure that remains worryingly high.

Insurance Isn’t the Same as
the Law

Every
business owner has certain responsibilities when it comes to the issue of fire.
Insurance is one of these, covering the business should the worst occur. But
although it can provide financial peace of mind, if a fire takes place it does
not cover your legal obligations in this area.

Under
the 2005 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, any person who has some
level of control in premises must take reasonable steps to reduce the risk from
fire and make sure people can safely escape if a fire occurs.

●Carry out a fire-risk assessment
identifying any possible dangers and risks

●Consider who may be especially at
risk

●Get rid of or reduce the risk from
fire as far as is reasonably possible and provide general fire precautions to
deal with any possible risk left

●Take other measures to make sure
there is protection if flammable or explosive materials are used or stored

●Create a plan to deal with any
emergency and, in most cases, keep a record of the findings

●Review the findings when necessary

And What if I Don’t bother?

Aside
from the risk to your employees and the public, you also run the risk of
landing in serious trouble if it is proved that you have been negligent in any
of the above should a fire take place.

The
law places responsibilities on organisations and employers, and directors can
be personally liable when these responsibilities are breached. If a fire occurs
that could have been prevented, then depending on the severity of the outcome,
either the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) or the Police could choose to
investigate.

And
the number of prosecutions is increasing. In the year to 31 March 2016, for
example, the HSE prosecuted 46 company directors and managers, compared to just
12 for the year before. Of these, 12 were sentenced to prison.

But Nothing Might Ever
Happen?

Even
if you’re lucky enough to not experience a fire, you can still get in trouble
if your fire safety standards are poor. A visit from a local fire officer, as
part of a fire safety audit will check that your fire risk assessment and fire
prevention measures are appropriate.

If
inadequate, the officer can issue an:

●Alterations notice: You’re served
this if your premises has high safety risks or will have high safety risks if
the use of the premises changes.

●Enforcement notice: This is served
if the fire and rescue authority finds a serious risk that’s not being managed.
It will say what improvements are needed by when.

●Prohibition notice: This takes
effect immediately if the fire and rescue authority thinks the fire risk is so
great that access to your premises needs to be prohibited or restricted.

What if I ignore Them?

Well,
you could be fined or go to prison if you don’t follow fire safety regulations.
Minor penalties can be up to £5,000. Major penalties can have unlimited fines
and up to 2 years in prison.

This video demonstrates how two-seconds is all it takes and is being used by thieves to break into commercial vehicles especially (Ford Transits). The victim had lost £650 worth of tools. Don’t let this be you! Tighten up your security!